15 comments so far

Ahhh nice video Jeff. The new layout is nice. Man have you been putting some thought into your new oak and maple benches. I am envious of your shop. I think you have built a nice place of creation of wood items. NICE JOB JEFF!

I followed your progress in previous parts. I was just wondering if you were going to use a sacrificial top, like 1/8 inch hardboard, for the RAS, and could you show a couple more pics of the drum sander on the other RAS. I have a spare RAS looking for a task. Did you build the drum sander or is it an accessory you bought. Is it even attached to the RAS? It all looks attached from my viewing angle.

Superdave – some of this oak really is cool – some curly grain, some quartersawn…....just never knew what you were going to get. I got a whole truckload for less than $100 and it was pretty rough. I should do a post just for you with all the crazy knots – sure slowed the planer down…....

I promise to update my shop page soon…...:)

David – I am planning on a sacrificial top for the RAS – one of the reasons I haven’t fired it up yet – plus I am thinking about keeping the dado setup on it, which won’t mess with the maple.

The drum sander is the first model that Performax made – it is mounted to the RAS post so it is raised and lowered with the arm of the saw. There are a couple different posts about the sander in this blog series.

I picked up the RAS for free on CL and the drum sander for $50 as I recall….....and it works well…...

Very nice setup Jeff. I have been keeping a eye on your build of it. I really like the idea of what you used for the drill press. I started building a mitersaw station earlier this summer. I’m about 2/3 done with it I need to finish up the fence for it, and build and install the doors. I’m seriously thinking about using your idea for the drill press if you don’t care. I trying to do something with my dust problem as you are. I still need to see what you are doing with it. My mitersaw is a slider. So I don’t think it will work, and don’t know how to figure anything like that. My station is 18’ long so I can accomadate some of my table top equipment. IE drill press, drum sander, scroll saw. Possiblly something else. So I can free up room for storage and other equipment as it comes along.

Thanks for sharing your build with us. It has added a few of ideas for my build I hope you don’t care if I use a couple of your ideas.

Thanks Tim:

-- Tim, Missouri ....Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the heck happened

Hey Tim – use any ideas you want…...I’m sure someone before me came up with them anyways…...

Dust collection on the sliding saw is extra difficult. My first saw was a 10” slider and I ended up trading for the 12”, no slider. Now that I have the RAS – I will never miss the slider…...anyways, when I had the slider – I did build a dust hood for it that worked really good for standard (90 degree) cuts, but you had to remove it for any miter cuts, which really made it a pain – plus it was a huge footprint…....

I’m at work now – but I think I have pictures at home – will check tonight…....

Hey Roger – the bowling alley was bought at an online auction – the kind where you could go look at the stuff one day and then you bid online. Bought 2 lots (and split everything with my Dad). First lot was the “good stuff” about 2-3/4” thick, 42” wide and 14’ long. I think we paid like $60 or so. Four guys really stuggle to move, and it’s more like drag it…....this is the material the workbench (in the video) is made from.

The second lot was the thinner “approach area” stuff, you know where the people walk on it. This stuff is 1-1/2” thick or less – depending how many times them came thru with the floor sander. We bought a skid of that for like $25 and there were probably 16 pieces (14’ long) by various widths. This is what the counter tops are made out of.

The oak was cheap also, but like I stated somewhere else in this blog, what I saved in material costs, I invested in labor – it takes alot of man hours to convert these back into a usable piece…